SZ “Shattered Dreams”
Serious Demo for Students By Kaylie Kennedy Clemens Student Journalist
Statistics show 11 teens are killed every day because they make the decision to text and drive. On February 25, a dramatization of the repercussions of that choice was performed in the back parking lot at Clemens High School. Watching a mock crash, students realized how easily their lives could be changed or even taken away by choosing to text and drive. The crash included a 911 call, as well as information including what the students involved in the crash felt and how the lives of those affected would forever be changed by the crash. Lauren Richter, the Community in Schools counselor at Clemens, planned the event six months in advance. “I really wanted the kids to realize what can happen to them. Students may have
The Shattered Dreams demonstration was a collaboration of SCUCISD and several City of Schertz departments including Police, EMS and Fire Rescue. done it a million times but never got into an accident, but it only takes one moment to change lives forever. Put the phone down. You can wait to text back the other person, they aren’t going to die waiting,” Richter said. During the fake crash, students saw just how close to home disaster can strike. Senior Tate Gibson played the part of the texting driver of a vehicle that killed two people: senior Berkley Erwin and Vice-Principal Stacey Fizer.
tal. Students witnessed how the law has no bias toward teens after watching Gibson handcuffed and hauled off in the back of a police car. “It’s very surreal. Even though it’s a dramatization I found myself feeling guilty for a wreck I didn’t actually cause. It all happened really fast and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by flashing lights and sirens, watching people I’ve known for years being loaded into ambulances and body bags. I was out there acting, but it was coming from a very real place,” Gibson said.
In this fictional scenario, Gibson not only killed two people in this dramatization but also sent two other students, seniors JJ Elkins and Chris Tucker, to the hospi-
Students witnessing this event stood in a state of disbelief while watching classmates moved by officials out of crushed cars and left wondering what would
happen next. While police officers and EMT responders worked on moving bodies onto stretchers, somber music filled the air, and when there was a pause, noise from sirens in police cars, EMT vehicles, and fire trucks kept students alert to what was happening right in front of them. Students had a first look on how life is on a delicate string when a hearse from Schertz Funeral Home came to take the body of one student who was pronounced dead at the scene. Statistics show 11 teens are killed every day because they make the decision to text and drive.
schertzmagazine.com
APRIL 2014
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